A rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft launched from the bomb bay of a B-29 bomber, c. 1947.

NASA/Dryden Research Aircraft Movie Collection

Designed exclusively for research, the X-1 had thin, unswept wings and a fuselage modeled after a .50-inch bullet. Its length was 9.4 metres (31 feet) and its wingspan 8.5 metres (28 feet). It was powered by a liquid-fueled rocket engine designed, built, and tested by American engineer James Hart Wyld. Experience gained in the X-1 tests led to the development of the X-15rocket plane.

The record-breaking aircraft piloted by Yeager now resides in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

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